Delusions
by Katako-Chan
Summary: Based on the AMV by ninjahobbit of the same name. Shikamaru is gone, and Ino is seeing things. ShikaIno


A/N: My first attempt at Naruto fanfiction. This fic is based on the video "Delusions-Shikamaru and Ino" uploaded by ninjahobbit on youtube. Please review and flame if you like. You don't have to watch the video first to understand this. NOTE: This is pre-Shippuden…so, roughly, during the timeskip…and kind of AU, I guess.

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke wouldn't have left, Neji and Tenten would be together, and there would be no Shikamaru/Temari hints.

**Delusions**

Based on the Anime Music Video by ninjahobbit

"Shikamaru!" Two cries rang in the air as several kunai embedded themselves in Shikamaru's flak jacket.

"You're going to pay for this!" Chouji yelled, quickly forming hand seals, vengeful intent surrounding him.

But his teammate, the only kunoichi in Team 10, was frozen. Frozen in shock, frozen in silence. Frozen by the stab to the heart she'd received when those kunai had hit their target. Their team was shattered, their formation was shattered…she _felt_ shattered, but clung to the small speck of hope that Shikamaru would make it through, even as fact and reason filled her mind. Shikamaru had been low on chakra, his reflexes had been slowed by fatigue, and now he was badly injured. The chances of him making it through this mission alive were thinner than ninja wire.

Ino was still lost in her tumbling, painful thoughts when she heard two sounds that crashed her back into the torturous situation. Chouji rolling toward the enemy, preparing to take them down, and Shikamaru saying, no, calling her name.

"I-no…Ino…" He moaned weakly, and Ino felt her hope fade at the sheer weakness of his voice, collapsing at his side.

"I'm here, Shikamaru, I'm here. You're going to be fine, Shika-kun. Chouji's going to kill the enemy, we'll get you back to the hospital, and, when you get better, I won't complain for a week!" Ino murmured, gently smoothing back his hair. She wasn't doing this for Shikamaru right now. No, she was trying to convince herself.

"I-no…don't ever…forget…" He was interrupted by a sudden coughing fit, choking a little on his own blood, "Don't forget…that I…I love you…"

"No, Shika-kun, NO! Don't go saying your good-byes, you're not going anywhere!" Ino screamed, tears flying into the air as she vigorously shook her head. "You're going to get better, and you won't say your good-byes for a long time!"

The rumbling in the background stopped, and Ino was faintly aware that Chouji had defeated the enemy, and was now running to the pair.

"Ino…listen…to me. I love…you, I'm yours…forever. Don't…forget that…" Shikamaru's voice was becoming increasingly quiet and pained as Chouji knelt down beside them. "Chou-ji, take care…of Ino…for me. Please…" And with one last request and one last shuddering moan, Konoha's celebrated strategist, Nara Shikamaru, took his last breath.

"Shika! Shika-kun! Shikamaru, NO! NO, NO, NO! Shikamaru, open your eyes! Stay with me! You're going to be fine!" Ino sobbed, her voice muffled by Shikamaru's jacket.

"Ino, it's no use. He's already…" Chouji trailed off as tears streamed down his kind face.

"No, no, no…Shika, I love you….don't leave me, I love you! Please, don't leave me! Come back, Shika-kun, come back! You're going to be fine!" Ino cried, continuing to deny that Shikamaru was dead.

The funeral was quiet. Family, Kurenai-sensei, and the broken remains of Team 10. After the funeral was also when they started…the delusions. Ino had slipped away to Shikamaru's favorite cloud watching spot. Her mind slipped back to their first kiss. She could remember every detail of it.

"_Shika-kun…cloud watching isn't that bad…" Ino murmured to the boy lying beside her._

"_Heh." _

"_Say, Shikamaru, what do you think that cloud looks like?" She asked, turning to face him while pointing to a cloud that was round in one place and thin in another._

"_I think…I think it looks like a flower, Ino. And flowers remind me of you." Shikamaru turned to face her with a faint blush on his face. "Troublesome…but beautiful." And with that, he'd kissed her._

Ino leaned forward, lost in the delusion that Shikamaru was still there, that their lips where about to meet, when, before she knew it, she was face down in the soft grass. Tears immediately formed in her eyes, her hands fisting on tufts of grass. "It hurts so much!"

They kept on coming, those heart-wrenching delusions. Sometimes she thought she heard him mumbling, "Troublesome…" as she walked down the street. When she passed by the Academy, she remembered team selection day. When she took the Chuunin exams again, her heart had ached constantly in the Forest of Death. Even when she walked down the street, she thought she saw his slouched figure walking by.

The villagers were no help either. When she went out, and tried to forget the painful visions and feelings, she would hear them whispering.

"That's the kunoichi who I heard is going insane…" 

"Yeah, ever since that Nara kid died, it's been rumored she's going to lose her mind…"

And the painful thoughts would return, striking twice as hard.

The only person she could talk to was Chouji. He understood her "illness"; had even experienced a few mild bouts of it himself. But, no, his was a different case from hers. He suffered and ached from the loss of a his best friend, his teammate. Her heart clenched with the loss of a best friend, a teammate, a confidant, and…her boyfriend, it could be said. But Shikamaru was more than a boyfriend! A boyfriend was someone you were with one day, and was tired of the next. Shikamaru was constant, always there…or, he had been. Yes, Chouji she could talk to, and make her feel a little better, but no one could take away her pain.

Ino sat in her bedroom, her hands idly brushing the lavender bedcovers. She hardly left the confinements of this room anymore…only to eat. It just hurt _too much_ to go outside. She couldn't visit the training grounds, they reminded her of him. She couldn't cloud watch, they reminded her of him. She couldn't even walk down the street, **it** reminded her of him!

No, there was only one way out. Even her room made her heart ache. It wasn't admirable, especially when the majority of the shinobi population of Konoha had taken on Naruto's "I won't give up!" motto as their way of the ninja. Yes, Ino was giving up. She was giving up on trying to live on; she was giving up on fighting the pain. She'd spent a year doing it, and now, it was time to go.

A note lay on her bed; a scroll tied shut by a broken hair band that had belonged to Shikamaru. On it, in her neat script, was written: "Don't be sad. I've gone to join him and be happy. Be happy, because I'm going to be happy." The only thing left to do was carry out the act.

She'd stolen poison from Sakura's medical kit. She couldn't ask for it; Sakura would tell the Hokage, and her suffering would only continue. Poison….nice and painless. A perfect way to wash away the aching in her heart. With tears of happiness welling up in her eyes, Ino unsealed the tiny bottle and threw the contents into her mouth. She collapsed to the floor almost immediately; and, as she drew in her last breath, a single tear slid down her cheek and a small smile, the first and last in year, graced her lips.

A/N: Ehehe….it's kind of cheesy, the ending…but the video is SO SAD! I recommend you watch it.


End file.
